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How can Kentucky football beat Vanderbilt? It starts with more Lynn Bowden

LEXINGTON - Three keys to victory for Kentucky football at Vanderbilt and a score prediction:

Keep riding Lynn Bowden

Yes, Kentucky football’s offense is too one dimensional. No, that does not mean the Wildcats should make a quarterback change.

Vanderbilt is one of the worst teams in the country at stopping the run, ranked 103rd nationally at 196.7 yards per game. One of the Commodores’ worst performances of the season came against Ole Miss when dual-threat quarterback John Rhys Plumlee ran for 165 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries. The Rebels won that game 31-6 despite throwing for just 99 yards.

Kentucky coaches seem convinced skill position recruits understand the Bowden offense is a temporary solution to an injury crisis. As long as there is no risk of them losing faith, winning games now is the most important goal.

Contain Ke’Shawn Vaughn

Vanderbilt's most effective offensive weapon has been senior running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, who ranks fourth in the Southeastern Conference in rushing yards per game (90.89) and has recorded eight 100-yard rushing games in two seasons at Vanderbilt since transferring from Illinois.

In Vanderbilt’s upset of Missouri, Vaughn totaled 96 rushing yards and one touchdown on 29 carries and caught four passes for 80 yards and another score. Vaughn missed last season’s game at Kentucky with an injury.

“(They) very much build an offense around him,” UK coach Mark Stoops said of Vaughn. “He can hurt you running the ball and also in receiving, you’ve seen him make some extremely explosive plays in the screen game.”

Fix the kicking game

Somewhat lost in Kentucky’s late goal line failure against Tennessee was the fact that if kicker Chance Poore had not missed an extra point earlier in the game, the Wildcats could have kicked a field goal in that situation to play for overtime instead of going for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line.

Kentucky has now missed three extra points in the last two games and ranks 126th of 130 teams in PAT percentage (87.5). Field goal kicking has been equally inconsistent with Poore and walk-on Matt Ruffolo combining to convert just 6 of 11 attempts, giving Kentucky a field goal percentage (54.5) better than just seven teams nationally.

The Bowden offense adds pressure on Kentucky’s defense and special teams because of the low point totals it produces. That means significant improvement is needed from the kickers.

“We have to get that fixed,” Stoops said. “I don’t have an answer for that other than to continue to work with the kickers that we have and build their confidence and get them better. I know they can do it.”

Prediction: Kentucky 24, Vanderbilt 14

Prepare yourself for an ugly one. The winner in this game has scored more than 22 points just once in the last six games in the series. Kentucky should feel confident in its ability to extend its winning streak over Vanderbilt to four games, but that does not mean it will be particularly enjoyable to watch.

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